Bridgewater State Bears football | |
---|---|
First season | 1894 |
Athletic director | Marybeth Lamb |
Head coach | Joe Verria 8th season, 44–29 (.603) |
Stadium | Swenson Field (capacity: 1,600) |
Field surface | FieldTurf |
Location | Bridgewater, Massachusetts |
NCAA division | Division III |
Conference | MASCAC |
Past conferences | NEFC |
All-time record | 335–238–7 (.584) |
Bowl record | 4–5 (.444) |
Playoff appearances | 4 (1999, 2000, 2012, 2016) |
Playoff record | 0–4 (.000) |
Conference titles | 7 |
Rivalries | Massachusetts Maritime (Cranberry Bowl) [1] |
Colors | Crimson, white, and black [2] |
Mascot | BRISTACO the Bear |
Website | bsubears.com |
The Bridgewater State Bears football team represents Bridgewater State University in college football at the NCAA Division III level. The Bears are members of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC), fielding its team in the MASCAC since 2013. The Bears play their home games at Swenson Field in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. [3]
Their head coach is Joe Verria, who took over the position for the 2016 season. [4]
Known as Bridgewater Normal, the team played throughout the 1890s and 1920s before being disbanded in 1925. [5] In 1959, athletic director and basketball coach Ed Sweeney announced that football would return as a varsity sport after students voluntarily taxed themselves seven dollars per year to fund the restart of the team. [6]
The team began play in 1960 with a four game schedule.
Bridgewater State claims 7 conference titles, the most recent of which came in 2023.
Year | Conference | Overall Record | Conference Record | Coach |
---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | New England Football Conference | 9–1 | 6–0 | Peter Mazzaferro |
1992 | 9–1–1 | 8–0 | ||
1997† | 7–3 | 7–1 | ||
1999 | 10–1 | 6–0 | ||
2000 | 8–3 | 5–1 | ||
2016 | Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference | 8–3 | 8–0 | Joe Verria |
2023† | 7–3 | 7–1 |
† Co-champions
Bridgewater State claims 7 division titles, the most recent of which came in 2008.
Year | Division | Coach | Overall Record | Conference Record | Opponent | CG result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | NEFC South | Peter Mazzaferro | 9–1 | 6–0 | Maine Maritime | W 14–10 |
1990 | 8–2 | 6–0 | Plymouth State | L 7–26 | ||
1991 | 8–2 | 6–0 | UMass Lowell | L 7–10 | ||
1998† | NEFC Red | 7–3 | 5–1 | N/A lost tiebreaker to Maine Maritime | ||
1999 | 10–1 | 6–0 | No championship game held | |||
2000† | NEFC Bogan | 8–3 | 5–1 | Salve Regina | W 27–24 | |
2008† | Chuck Denune | 7–3 | 6–1 | N/A lost tiebreaker to Maine Maritime |
† Co-champions
Bridgewater State has appeared in the Division III playoffs four times, with an overall record of 0–4.
Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1999 | First Round | Ursinus | L, 38–43 |
2000 | First Round | Hobart | L, 0–25 |
2012 | First Round | Widener | L, 14–44 |
2016 | First Round | Alfred | L, 27–33 |
Bridgewater State has participated in nine bowl games, and has a record of 4–5.
Season | Coach | Bowl | Opponent | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | Peter Mazzaferro | ECAC Bowl | Alfred | L 27–30 |
1992 | ECAC Bowl | RPI | L 25–28 | |
2005 | Chuck Denune | ECAC Bowl | Fitchburg State | W 34–17 |
2006 | ECAC Bowl | Coast Guard | W 41–22 | |
2007 | ECAC Bowl | Plymouth State | L 21–24 | |
2011 | ECAC Bowl | Alfred | L 10–41 | |
2015 | ECAC Bowl | Carnegie Mellon | L 13–48 | |
2018 | Joe Verria | New England Bowl | Salve Regina | W 34–19 |
2022 | New England Bowl | Catholic | W 34–24 |
General | Overall | Conference | Postseason [A 1] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Order of coaches [A 2] | GC | Games coached | CW | Conference wins | PW | Postseason wins |
DC | Division championships | OW | Overall wins | CL | Conference losses | PL | Postseason losses |
CC | Conference championships | OL | Overall losses | CT | Conference ties | PT | Postseason ties |
NC | National championships | OT | Overall ties [A 3] | C% | Conference winning percentage | ||
† | Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame | O% | Overall winning percentage [A 4] |
No. | Name | Season(s) | GC | OW | OL | OT | O% | CW | CL | CT | C% | PW | PL | PT | DC | CC | NC | Awards |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ed Swenson [12] [13] | 1960–1967 | 47 | 14 | 33 | 0 | 0.298 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
2 | Peter Mazzaferro [14] [15] | 1968–1986, 1988–2004 | 339 | 195 | 137 | 7 | 0.586 | 148 | 82 | 0 | 0.643 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 0 | – |
3 | Jim Crowley | 1987 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.444 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0.600 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
4 | Chuck Denune [16] [17] | 2005–2015 | 112 | 75 | 37 | 0 | 0.670 | 55 | 24 | 0 | 0.696 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – |
5 | Joe Verria [18] | 2016–present | 63 | 37 | 26 | 0 | 0.587 | 48 | 24 | 0 | 0.667 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | – |
National champions | Conference champions | Division champions | Bowl game berth | Playoff berth |
Season | Year | Head Coach | Association | Division | Conference | Record | Postseason | Final ranking | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | Conference | |||||||||||||
Win | Loss | Tie | Finish | Win | Loss | Tie | ||||||||
Bridgewater State Bears [19] | ||||||||||||||
1960 | 1960 | Ed Swenson | NAIA | — | NAIA Independent | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
1961 | 1961 | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1962 | 1962 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1963 | 1963 | 2 | 5 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1964 | 1964 | 0 | 7 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1965 | 1965 | NCAA | College Division | NEFC | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
1966 | 1966 | 3 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1967 | 1967 | 4 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1968 | 1968 | Peter Mazzaferro | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
1969 | 1969 | 3 | 4 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1970 | 1970 | 0 | 8 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1971 | 1971 | 3 | 6 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
1972 | 1972 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5th | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1973 | 1973 | Division III | 5 | 5 | 0 | T–3rd | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | |||
1974 | 1974 | 6 | 4 | 0 | T–5th | 4 | 3 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1975 | 1975 | 7 | 3 | 0 | T–4th | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1976 | 1976 | 6 | 3 | 0 | T–2nd | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1977 | 1977 | 6 | 3 | 0 | T–2nd | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | |||||
1978 | 1978 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 7th | 3 | 5 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1979 | 1979 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 8th | 3 | 5 | 1 | — | — | ||||
1980 | 1980 | 5 | 3 | 1 | T–4th | 5 | 3 | 1 | — | — | ||||
1981 | 1981 | 3 | 6 | 0 | T–7th | 3 | 6 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1982 | 1982 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4th | 5 | 3 | 1 | — | — | ||||
1983 | 1983 | 4 | 5 | 0 | T–5th | 4 | 5 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1984 | 1984 | 2 | 7 | 0 | T–7th | 2 | 7 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1985 | 1985 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3rd | 5 | 4 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1986 | 1986 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4th | 6 | 1 | 2 | — | — | ||||
1987 | 1987 | Jim Crowley | 4 | 5 | 0 | T–2nd (South) | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | — | |||
1988 | 1988 | Peter Mazzaferro | 5 | 4 | 0 | T–4th (South) | 3 | 3 | 0 | — | — | |||
1989 | 1989 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1st (South) | 6 | 0 | 0 | L ECAC North Bowl | — | ||||
1990 | 1990 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1st (South) | 6 | 0 | 0 | Division champions | — | ||||
1991 | 1991 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 1st (South) | 6 | 0 | 0 | Division champions | — | ||||
1992 | 1992 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1st | 8 | 0 | 0 | L ECAC Northeast Bowl | — | ||||
1993 | 1993 | 5 | 5 | 0 | T–3rd | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1994 | 1994 | 6 | 4 | 0 | T–3rd | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1995 | 1995 | 6 | 4 | 0 | T–2nd | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1996 | 1996 | 5 | 5 | 0 | T–5th | 4 | 4 | 0 | — | — | ||||
1997 | 1997 | 7 | 3 | 0 | T–1st | 7 | 1 | 0 | Conference Champions | — | ||||
1998 | 1998 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1st (Red) | 7 | 1 | 0 | Conference Champions | — | ||||
1999 | 1999 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1st (Red) | 6 | 0 | 0 | L NCAA Division III First Round | — | ||||
2000 | 2000 | 8 | 3 | 0 | T–1st (Bogan) | 5 | 1 | 0 | L NCAA Division III First Round | — | ||||
2001 | 2001 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3rd (Bogan) | 3 | 3 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2002 | 2002 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 4th (Bogan) | 3 | 3 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2003 | 2003 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3rd (Bogan) | 4 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2004 | 2004 | 6 | 3 | 0 | T–2nd (Bogan) | 4 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2005 | 2005 | Chuck Denune | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2nd (Bogan) | 5 | 1 | 0 | W ECAC Northeast Bowl | — | |||
2006 | 2006 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2nd (Bogan) | 6 | 1 | 0 | W ECAC North Atlantic Bowl | — | ||||
2007 | 2007 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2nd (Bogan) | 5 | 2 | 0 | L ECAC North Atlantic Bowl | — | ||||
2008 | 2008 | 7 | 3 | 0 | T–1st (Bogan) | 6 | 1 | 0 | Division champions | — | ||||
2009 | 2009 | 7 | 3 | 0 | T–2nd (Bogan) | 5 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2010 | 2010 | 5 | 5 | 0 | T–5th (Bogan) | 3 | 4 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2011 | 2011 | 7 | 3 | 0 | T–2nd (Bogan) | 5 | 2 | 0 | L ECAC Northeast Bowl | — | ||||
2012 | 2012 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2nd (Bogan) | 6 | 1 | 0 | L NCAA Division III First Round | — | ||||
2013 | 2013 | MASCAC | 6 | 4 | 0 | T–3rd | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | — | |||
2014 | 2014 | 4 | 6 | 0 | T–6th | 3 | 5 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2015 | 2015 | 7 | 4 | 0 | T–2nd | 6 | 2 | 0 | L ECAC Legacy Bowl | — | ||||
2016 | 2016 | Joe Verria | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1st | 8 | 0 | 0 | L NCAA Division III First Round | — | |||
2017 | 2017 | 2 | 8 | 0 | T–7th | 2 | 6 | 0 | — | — | ||||
2018 | 2018 | 8 | 3 | 0 | T–2nd | 6 | 2 | 0 | W New England Bowl | — | ||||
2019 | 2019 | 6 | 4 | 0 | T–2nd | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | — | ||||
Season canceled due to Covid-19 | ||||||||||||||
2021 | 2021 | Joe Verria | NCAA | Division III | MASCAC | 6 | 4 | 0 | T–2nd | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | — |
2022 | 2022 | 7 | 4 | 0 | T–2nd | 6 | 2 | 0 | W New England Bowl | — | ||||
2023 | 2023 | — | — | |||||||||||
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